Cooking creates undesirable by-products such as smoke, grease and odor that can pollute an inhabited airspace if they are not removed or reclaimed. Consequently, many devices have been invented for addressing the problem of airborne cooking contaminants. For example, ducted range hoods remove the contaminated air from the inhabited area, while ductless range hoods intake air from the cooking area, remove at least some of the contaminants, and then re-circulate the resulting exhaust air back into the inhabited space.
Grease is one particularly difficult problem to address in any type of ventilation system. Among other things, liquefied grease removed from the air can accumulate in hard-to-reach areas of the ventilation system, where it can become rancid, support the growth of fungus or bacteria, attract insects, or even present a fire hazard. The average American household typically must address over a gallon of cooking grease every year and commercial kitchens significantly more.
While cleaning the ventilation system of grease is mandatory for maintaining hygiene and safety, whether it is in a home or commercial kitchen, the structure and assembly of currently available ventilation systems often make removal of accumulated grease a time-consuming and painstaking task. For example, in some ventilation systems employing a blower to remove airborne grease through liquefaction, the blow unit must be accessed in the ventilation system and at least the blower housing removed and washed. While removing and washing the blow housing, the user must take care to avoid spilling grease along with particulate matter trapped within the grease.